Brazil congress starts special session

Members of the Brazilian Congress have begun an extraordinary midsummer sitting, due to last a month, in an effort to pass several constitutional measures before general elections planned for October.

Among them are public administration and welfare reform bills designed to cut public spending.

The BBC correspondent in Brazil says the government's urgency is part of an attempt to reassure foreign investors that Latin America's largest economy is not going to experience a crisis similar to that which has swept Asian countries.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service